WARREN, Ark. – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors held its February meeting on Thursday, Feb. 27 inside the conference room at the hospital with executive updates, financials, policy approvals, and more on the agenda.
Minutes from the January gathering were approved then Controller Matt Pace gave his report on financials. Total gross patient revenue came in at $3,696,738 while net operating revenue checked in at $2,150,269. BCMC recorded a net income of $156,809 for the month. The sales tax revenue for the month totaled $116,431.10 to bring the sales tax fund to a little more than $5.1 million. Most services saw an increase in volumes from the previous month, including the BCMC Rural Health Clinic.
CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt was mostly positive about the previous month financially and stated accounts receivable has continued to decrease. Her only area of concern was with the decrease in cash. While there have been cuts to expenses, and will continue to monitor it, she believes the monthly cash receipts need to be around $1.7 million. She also touched on volumes and stated year-to-date volumes for inpatients are down, but most other areas are up or only have a slight decrease.
One item Huitt took some time to discuss was health insurance. Blue Cross/Blue Shield is going up 28% so the hospital is working to see if that number can improve along with exploring different options. She attended a CFO Forum and one of the presentations was about the future of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare. Her thoughts are that the hospital needs to be ready sooner rather than later on ways to utilize it and how to deal with it.
Huitt continued by informing the board that the home health department was in the process of appealing denials and had already won one case. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are still an ongoing process. Lastly, she took a moment to discuss what potential Medicaid cuts at the federal level, along with changes at the state level, could mean for BCMC.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe let the board members know he had received a number of positive remarks about the emergency room and first station departments with recent care received by patients. He said some told him they bypassed other hospitals to come here because they knew they’d receive excellent care here.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams gave a brief recap of the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development (DRCHSD) Stay the Course event on Tuesday, Feb. 25. It was a productive meeting with some community members about telehealth and mental health. Access Health conducted an on-site credentialing audit recently and everything went well.
The meeting transitioned into policy approvals. Solo policies of Opioid Prescribing in the Emergency Department, Critical Care Time Documentation, Patient Identification, and Free PSA Reflex were brought to a vote and all passed unanimously. Annual approvals for Administration, Electronic Health Records, Legacy Rehab (Outpatient Therapy), Social Services, and CURA (Dietary) were voted on and all five were confirmed by the board unanimously.
There was a brief discussion about repairs to the “ambulance house” and it would cost $30,000 just for the foundation. They are looking into other options including a constructing a new building. Huitt also expressed her desire to secure housing for emergency room physicians and the board is going to look into options.
Wolfe explained the need for three telemetry monitors and new surgery stools. The telemetry monitors attach to patients, and several have gone missing over the years, while the surgery stools are old and need to be replaced. The cost for all items is around $8,600 and the board approved the use of sales tax funds for the purchases.
The board went into executive session and medical staff recommendations were approved before the meeting was adjourned.
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